FOX HOW SPORTS. The above sports, held on th&amp; Berrybank football ground on Saturday last, waa well attended, between 250 and 300 people being: present. The weather was cold and windy, but the onlookers ap peared to enjoy themselves. The sports were rather late in com menciner. but when t.Vip hpll for the first event there was no delay, the various items being: contested in cjnick succession. The officials carried out their duties like clock work. Mr P. Turner, who took a leading part in the meeting-, had the details well arranged. A light refresh ment booth, under the manage ment of Miss Mack, was patron ised largely, A cup of hot tea with a sandwich or scone was vory acceptable about 4 o'clock. The Red Cross fund will gain about £15 from the afternoon's enjoyment. Not a small sum from a country gathering. The following i3 the list of officialsJudges, Messrs J. Mack and Sutherland ; referee, Mr T. Whinray; stewards, Me3srs Ferguson, J. Gibson, J. Whinray, J. Dunn and P. Turn...

, CORRESPONDENCE. ;.[,We do not necessarily identify our selvcswith th« opinions expressed by our correspondents.] FLbUR MILL FOR CRESSY . TO THE EDITOR. , 'Siri—I noticed in a recent issue , ""'of "The Pioneer" a suggestion ' that a co-operative company be '• formed in Cressy for the purpose . of starting a flour mill in the town. While not objecting to the suggestion, would it not be better for some of our farmers to wait upon one of the mill owners and ask him to open up in Crepsy? This would do away with the - trouble and expense of forming • a company. The Cressy wheat is equal to the best Wimmera wheat for milling purposes, and as the yield this season promises to be a prolific one, the mill would " be kept constantly going. There is no occasion for me to go into details. It i3 sufficient to say that there is not a flour mill within 40 miles of Cressy. Con : . sequently the venture would - handsomely pay, and would be of much convenience to the wheat growers of the Western Pla...

BEEAC. From Our Correipondcnt. At a meeting of the Hibernian^ picnic race committee it was" found that the balance-sheet showed £18 133 9d profit. This sum was handed to the local patriotic committee for transmis sion to the Belgian fund, Mel bourne. This is a welcome addi tion to the fund. The Beeac patriotic fund now amounts to £573, £385 of which has been divided amongst various ^unds. At a meeting of the Empire Day committee on Saturday night the sum of £3 6a 4d was voted to the ladies' committee for Red Cross work. A special vote of' thanks was ordered to be given to Mr C. Hernan for the time and trouble he had given toimake the concert the success it was. A fire was nearly caused by the explosion of a lamp and the con tact with methylated spirits dur ing the rehearsal of the dramatic club. Mr C. Hernan and his as sociates succeeded in extinguish ing the back of- the piano and putting the fire out. Mr Bert Salmon, who has been-, operated on in the Colac hospital for appendiciti...

CRESS*. WEDNESDAY. JUNE 9. The Rooster Picnic on Monday night was a big success. The hall was crowded, and each item vociferously applauded, Mr C. D. Ross deserves much credit for the efficiency shown by the Ban tams. The entertainment will be repeated on or about June 26th. Full report next issue. Mr G. Knight leaves Greasy on Monday to take up his duties at the Middle Park State school. Sixty-five points of rain fell in Cressy since Monday morning; and, as per usual, the Btreets of ! the town resembled a series of miniature duck ponds, mud and slush also being much in evidence. When will the CreBsy people in sist on their streets and foot paths being attended to ? A meeting of the Cressy me chanics' institute will be held on Saturday next. Also a public meeting to arrange a farewell social to Mr G. Knight. The Cressy footballers will meet a team from Werneth on the Creasy ground on Saturday next. It is rumored that an endeavor is being made to establish a branch of the A.N. A. in ...

FOOTBALL. CRESSY (1.2) V. CAPE CLE AH (0.2). On Saturday last the first mat ches in connection with theRoke wood district association were played, when Rokewood met Werneth on the former's ground, and Cressy journeyed to Cape Clear, by train as far as JBerringa, then a three-mile walk across the paddocks to the football ground. This was good train for the foot ballers. Anived on the ground a start was made to play close on to four o'clock. The lu>me team had their full complement of players, but the visitors played two men short. The teams were pretty evenly matched, and an interesting and friendly crame wag won by Creasy by six points. The strong wind that waa blow ing across the ground accounted for the small scoring to a great I extent. The teams worn :— Cape Clear.--MiIne (captain), Commons, Ward, Catton, Grant, M'CafFrey, Rowe, Stretch, Moy nihan (2), Rumble, Perry. Buck ley, Dalgleish, Murphy, Vaughan, Cox. I Cressy—A.Commons(captain), J. Fraser, K. Little, B. Willis, ; Bat...

THE REFERENDA PROPO SALS. [Contributed.]" "Naturally the war obsesses the minds of the people," said Mr Hughes, speaking to his mas ters, the Labor delegates assem bled at the triennial conference in Adelaide. Nevertheless, the Attorney-General was heartily with those who are for placing Referenda proposals before the electors at the earliest possible moment. Fathers and mothers are to forget their sons at the Dardanelles, young and old are to divert their attention from the life and death struggle in which ihe Empire ia engaged that they may read more Hughes' pamph lets and hoar more racy speeches on the Constitution. Casualty liefH, cables telling of victories and of defeats, of heroic deed3 done by land and water are to be put aside till we have voted for a third time on issues, the deter mining of which requires all the I attention which the mo3t philo- ! soptiic of mortals can bring to bear in his calmest hour3. But with the enthusiasts of the con ference it is no mere matter o...

! OF SURAL IWTERF-ST (.By "JBusticiis.'') Tli" monthly rainfall report covering Miiy make. ploasanlor reading tliiin has I'i'ftii i'l 11' 11 i 11d by ill esc reports for ilisny month'. past. Its ehiel point is the tine general r!iinf;ill about tho middle &amp;lt;if tile month, from May 1'2 to May 18, which ii, is hoped may bo re g.irdud as terminaling a drought of 13 month-' duration. and uf an in tensity without parrallel in uur melorologieal history. Over bunilioru i)i'*iis show er-,'euiilinuo 1 to jidl until May 28, but tIn? is ruivly extended much beyond tho llivide. Tin' ruin t:>l;11lor tho month v.ere fiotioi(illy larger over tho eastern hull ol thu Stiit'., and particularly generous over tlio north tr.i-st, .so that tlio Murray and its tributaries were mm!..' I ii ")».i fieely again, hut thy inil.. of the north-west, and inland pari.-, of ih ■ U'csfeiii District still slum deficiencies, as compared with tin; average, and in parts ol' the .Mallei', llii) shortage is sii...

A HELPING HAND. What may be termed a pleas ing spectacle was witnessed on the farm of Mr John M'Kenzie, of Cressy, on Thursday, 11th June, when 16 of the leading farmers of this district (organ ised by Mr Chas.M'Kenzie) came along with their teams (some of them having two teams) with drills, harrows, ploughs, wag gons, etc., and set to work to plough and sow a paddock con taining about 50 acres, and this they did successfully. The rea son for this was the fact that Mr John M'Kenzie had recently gone under a very severe operation, and as a consequence was urabie to get the work done himself. It is gratifying to know that there still are hearts that are human, and men who are willing to do a noble deed and perform a worthy action. There were over 20 men and just on 100 horses engaged in this worthy effort from early in the morning until ' nearly dark. The ladies should not be forgotten, for in the cap able hands of Miss Bown, of Cressy, several of them provided the lunches for the men...

CORRESPONDENCE. : f]Wc do not necessarily identify our selveswith the opinions expressed by our correspondents.] AN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY . FOR CRESSY. TO THE EDITOIi. Sir,—Reading the remarks that appeared in "The Pioneer " re cently,'anent the establishment of an agricultural society in Cressy, I think the suggestion a good on and worthy of the at tention of both the townspeople and farmers. An agricultural society is a good advertisement for the capabilities of a district, besides being an education for the man on the land. Some people might 3ay that Cressy is too small for the starting of such a society. I do not think it is. I h;.vo seen such societies start and flourish in towns only half the sine of this. 0:kj great fac- , tor in favor of the establishment . of such a society here is the large farming population around this district, more estates are being subdivided each year, and new farmers settling on the land. The /v"'re settlers there are on the 1hs;&amp;lt;1 the mor...

THE "ROOSTER" PICNIC. A GREAT SUCCESS. The long-looked-for "Rooster Picnic" by the Cressy Bamams —Bome7U in number—eveniuaied on ihe evening of 7th June in the mechanics'hall. Previously, this [ concert had to be twice postponed j for various reasons, anu lib com ing oit was eagerly awaited by, the public of Cressy and district, 'ihe night was not a very pleas ant one for the holding of a con I cert, being cold, damp and aark. Nevertheless the elements were I braved, and the hah was packed. I it may safely be Baid that this concert was " the hit of the sea sun," so far. Very artistic and taBty programmes in three colors, red, white and blue, were lbsued from this office for the concert, as a souvenir from patriotic Cressy. These were sola at 6d each, and helped to augment the fund for which the concert was held—the Belgian Relief Fund. The entertainment was a unique I one of its kind for Cressy, being composed of all young boys, and ! it took on splendidly. The idea emanated from Mr...

CltESS'i. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 1C. Laboii rules in the Common wealth Houses and in five of the six State Parliaments. Yet Vic toria has a Liberal Premier who commands a sweeping majority, if our Legislative Assembly were an expiring one, elected before the swing of the political pendu lum, the fact would be hardly worth noting. But the sitting members went to the poll when Labor was (lushed by Federal victory, and went without their old leader, Mr Watt, a man so strong that he had been begged to enter the Federal arena. Every thing seemed to favor the Oppo sition, and its leaders boasted of coming victory. Senator Pearce Was experiencing a sort of apo theosis as a heaven sent Minister of Defence,drought,high freigha, war scare,were raising prices,and the increases were cheerfully set down to the discredit of the wicked capitalist of Labor's fairy tales. In spite of it all,Sir Alex ander Peacock won a glorious victory. Why thi3 startling con trast between Victoria and her sister States ? ...